Old keeper watches from his chair
Salt dried deep in weathered hair
Bronze chain slips through callused thumb
Rhythm stays steady, never numb
Bronze watch hums beneath the terrace
Zinc roofs catch the midnight air
Gears align with steady grace
Seconds pass without a care
Lamp oil stains his wool coat sleeve
Tides he knew now stay and leave
Pocket watch sings soft and deep
Promises the dark to keep
Bronze watch hums beneath the terrace
Zinc roofs catch the midnight air
Gears align with steady grace
Seconds pass without a care
Cobblestones drink Seine's black ink
Notre Dame wears night's sharp brink
Watch ticks loud in quiet square
No one hears but keeper there
Foghorn memory turns to grey
Lens stops turning, sweeps the bay
But here the mechanism sings
Defiant in the city's rings
Bronze watch hums beneath the terrace
Zinc roofs catch the midnight air
Gears align with steady grace
Seconds pass without a care
Dawn cracks slow on Montmartre hill
Gas lamps sputter, standing still
Watch winds down in keeper's palm
Calm returns with morning psalm
Bronze watch hums beneath the terrace
Zinc roofs catch the midnight air
Gears align with steady grace
Seconds pass without a care
Midnight gears turn, bold and bare
Tick tick tick beneath the stone
Paris breathes in copper tone